Glacialtech's Igloo 5710 Silent heatsink is built to be a
cost effective and low noise thermal solution for socket 775
Intel Core 2 Duo and AMD Athlon64 (socket 939/AM2) processors.
Made by Taiwanese heatsink manufacturer Glacialtech, the Igloo 5710 Silent is a
straightforward CPU cooler built around a thin copper base,
some heatpipes and a large collection of aluminum fins.

The Igloo 5710 Silent is shipped with a low noise
1600RPM 92mm fan and a pre-applied patch of thermal compound on its base. A nice
touch given its suitability for generic office PCs where non-experts may be tasked with the
heatsink's installation. It's moderately paced fan is good for maintaining
noise control, while an economical price tag will certainly keep it
within any department's budget. This is not an enthusiast grade low noise
heatsink with all the bells and whistles, instead the Glacialtech Igloo 5710 is more like a
budget minded work horse that just hast to work, and not make a
racket.

Given its relatively compact size, the Igloo 5710 Silent
will fit in mid-tower and compact PC cases easily enough, and
the versatility of mounting hardware allows it to be used with either Intel or AMD
processors. As needs change, the Igloo 5710 can be migrated along with the
processor platform, thus saving costs down the road.

The
Glacialtech Igloo 5710 Silent is shown with its LGA775 Intel mounting brackets
installed, and comes this way out of the box. Four screws will release the
LGA775 brackets, wherein users can attach socket 754/939 or socket AM2 mounting
brackets on the base of the Igloo 5710 Silent heatsink. Printed instructions
cover the basic steps so the process is not difficult. At most a small phillips
screw driver is required.

Like several other recent Glacialtech Igloo heatsinks, the Igloo 5710 Silent has scalloped leading
and trailing edges on its aluminum fins. Seen from the top down in the picture
below, the wavy pattern helps break up laminar air flow and decrease back pressure as
the air enters. The aluminum fins are press-fit over the three 6mm diameter nickel-plated
heatpipes, not soldered. The heatpipes are soldered to the copper base
however.

FrostyTech's Test Methodologies are outlined in detail here if you care to know what equipment is
used, and the parameters under which the tests are conducted. Now let's move
forward and take a closer look at this heatsink, its acoustic characteristics,
and of course its performance in the thermal tests!